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Jerna panted as she dragged her injured
leg across the desert sand. A few more
paces, she told herself, a few more
paces and there will be shelter. From under her hood she peered at the
cracked cistern located about five meters away. The desert sky stretched above
her grey with promises of a sandstorm. Using her staff to pull her closer to
her destination, Jerna tried to ignore her throbbing foot. Wind began to pick
up sand as she concentrated on the cistern. Finally reaching the cistern, she peered
inside to see if any desert creatures had fallen in. Seeing none, she produced
a rope from her pack and securely tied one end around a metal support that
protruded from the cistern wall. With great caution, she lowered herself into
the cistern and waited for the storm to pass. In the dim light, Jerna examined the wound
on her ankle. The skin was torn and broken from one of the briers. Although the
wound was not contaminated, she wondered why there was so much pain. Opening
her water skin, sh…

In the middle of the night, Jerna felt her
throat parched. Somewhere between wakefulness and sleep, she tried to swallow.
She got up, seeing only darkness, she felt around for her pack in search of her
water skin. A hand grabbed her wrist. She froze. “What are you looking for?” asked a gentle
voice. Jerna realized that her rescuer was still there. “My water,” her voice raspy with thirst. He fell silent for a moment. “You lost
your water in the lake.” “What time is it?” She wondered how long
she had slept as unease crept within her. “It’s morning, can you not see the sun?” Jerna did not know if she had heard him
right. “What did you just say?” “I said, it’s morning.” She waved her hand in front of her face,
then, looked about her. Nothing. She could not see. She covered her mouth as
she felt a lump form in her throat. Why?
How did this happen? What about the cure? “Jerna, do you want some water?” he asked
quietly. Suddenly, she felt him envelope her with
his body. Something pounded in the ground…

Jerna had a dream. She was very small and
her grandmother was still alive. They were sitting near the fire. “When
the chief god left his people, they thought that he had left them to die.
Because of this, they felt that there was no purpose to live. They also believe
that the chief god sent the disease as punishment. So, in hope to appease him
sacrifices were made by letting animals run into the desert. However, there was
another story that was not known to many people.” Just when her grandmother was about to
give the second story, Jerna woke up. She closed her hand over the coin around
her neck. It felt heavier than it usually was. She sat up and looked at her
surroundings. She remembered that she was in a cave she had found just outside
the desert the night before. She opened her pack for some breakfast. She ate
chewing each small bite carefully so she could taste every last morsel. She
took a sip of water from her water skin. For a moment, she stared at the ground
before her. Without …